Shingle



. 1,645,75 Oct. 18, 1927. w. KELSO I 7 UNCQUPLINGDEVICE Filed Nov. 2, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 18, 1927. w. KELSO UNCOUPLING nsvxca Filed NOV. 2. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

WILLIAM KELSO, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE MOGONW'AY & TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN:

SYLVANIA.

UNCOUPLING DEVICE.

Application filed November 2, 1926. Serial No. 145,781.

My invention relates to an uncoupling device employed for the purpose of causing the locking mechanism of a car coupler to assume the positions required to unlock and open the coupler knuckle.

At the present time car couplers almost universally embody means for preventing the locking block by which uncoupling rotation of the knuckle is restrained from accidentally moving to unlocked position as the result of shocks and vibrations incident to the movement of the train. This function of preventing accidental unlocking or the coupler is usually performed by the litter for moving the lock to unlocked position. \Vhere the speed of the train is moderate the commonly employed means for retaining the lock in locked position is usually satisfactory, but it is the object of my invent-ion to provide means for preventing the coupler look from accidentally moving to unlocked position by so constructing the uncoupling device for actuating the locking mechanism of a car coupler that the parts of said device will be restrained from accidentally assuming a position corresponding to that which they are required to occupy when the coupler is unlocked.

The principal feature of the invention consists in forming an uncoupling lever for actuating the locking mechanism of a, car coupler as an outer rotatable member combined with an'inner rotatable member, the two members being capable of independent rotary movement and the outer member being adapted to actuate the inner so as to move the latter to uncoupling position; and in associating therewith a bracket rigidly mounted on the car body and afiording spaced pivotal supports for the said rot-atable members and also providing a lug or projection adapted to interlock with the inner lever member so as to prevent accidental uncoupling rotation of the latter, the said inner member having at its outer end an opening forming a downwardly facing shoulder and an inclined face or wall converging downwardly toward the pivotal bearing for the said inner lever member, the said shoulder being adapted to lap over the said locking lug so as to enable the latter to support the outer end of the inner lever member in elevated position, and the inclined face or Wall of the opening being adapted to cooperate with the pivotal bearing for the inner lever member to thereby prevent the shoulder from movin into overlapped relation with the looking lug so, long as the inner end of the inner lever member is approximately in normal coupled positlon.

Other features of they invention, pertain.- ing to advantageous combinations of parts and structural details will hereinafter appear and be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating a preferred;

embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view of an uncoupling device embodying the invention showing its, relation to the car and car coupler, the. parts, being in locked relation.

Figure 2 is an elevational view of the construction illustrated in Fig. 1, the parts. being in locked position.

Figure 3 is an end elevational view showing the relation of the parts when the coupler lock is in lock-set position.

Figure 4 is an elevational view showing the parts in the positions they occupy when the uncoupling device is actuated for throwing the knuckle open, this being also the position which the parts assume. inthe act of setting the lock in lock-set position before the downward force applied to the outer end of the outer lever arm is released.

Figure 5 is a detail elevational view of a portion of the mechanism, the parts being in locked position and a portion of the outer lever member being broken away.

Figure 6 is a detail sectionalview on the line 66, Fig. 1.

The car coupler 1 illustrated in the drawings for the purpose of disclosing the relation of the improved uncoupling device thereto is of the well known standard D type having a lock lifter 2 which extends upwardly through the top of the cou ler head so as to be operatively oonnecte to the uncoupling device. The locking block serves normally to prevent an uncouplin rotation of the coupler knuckle is. move to unlocked position by thislifter which also cooperates with the coupler head to prevent the locking block from accidentally jarring upward to unlocked position.

The coupler locking mechanism is actuated by an uncoupling device formed as an uncoupling lever consisting of an outer member 3 and an inner member 4. The inner end 5 of the member 4 is preferably of cylindrical form and projects through the usual eye at the upper end of the lock lifter 2 a sufficient distance to accommodate the movements of the coupler. The outer arm 6 of the lever member 3 is designed to be depressed either by the hand or the foot so as to effect an uncoupling operation of the parts.

Rigidly mounted upon the car body is a bracket 7 on which the transversely extending uncoupling level is fulcrumed. The lever members overla at the bracket and the inner arm 8 of t e outer member 3 is bent so as to extend under the inner lever member 4, thereby enabling an uncoupling til movement of the latter to be effected by a corresponding movement of the outer lever member 3.

The fulcrum'bracket 7 is provided with a pivotal bearin for the outer lever member 3 preferably formed as a cylindrical stud 9, the lever member being retained in assembled relation therewith by means of a nut 10 and washer 11. The bracket also affords a pivotal bearing for the inner lever member 4, said bearing being conveniently consti-' tuted by a downwardly projecting lug '12 whose lower end is circularly curved on a center or axis which is spaced from thatof the pivot lug 9 upon whichthe outer member 3 is mounted. In addition to these pivotal bearing portions for the respective lever members, the bracket 7 is formed with a locking lug or projection 13 which is adapted to cooperate with'the inner lever" member 4 to prevent accidental rotation of the latter to uncoupling position. The fulcrum bracket may'also conveniently be provided with an upwardly extending lug 14 and a downwardly extending lug 15 for preventing inward movement of the lever member'4 with respect to the bracket,. and for the purpose of limiting the movement of the outer lever'member 3 man uncoupling di- 7 re ction the fulcrum bracket may also embody a forwardly projecting lug or stop portion' 16 which extends beneath the outer arm 3 of the uncoupling lever in spaced relation to the pivotal axis of the latter.

The outer end of the inner lever member 4 is fashioned with an openingor recess 17 into which portions of the fulcrum bracket 7 extend. The upper portion of this recess isnarrowed or constricted, as at18, so as to conformto the lockinglug 13 and adjacent part of the fulcrum bracket. Below the ortion normally occupied by the locking ug13 the opening .17 is widened on the side toward the coupler so as to provide 'a shoulder 19 beneath which the upper end of the said lug 13 extends when, as shown in Fig. 4 the outer lever member 3 is actuated to effect an uncoupling operation. of the mechanism. Adjacent to and below the shoulder 19, the face or wall 20 of the opening is inclined downwardly so as to slope toward the projection 12 of the bracket forming the pivotal bearing for the inner lever member 4. Thelower wall 21 of the opening is rounded so as to permit pivotal movement of the lever 4 when the latter bears against its pivot projection 12 of the bracket. 1 a v WVhen the trainman presses down on the outer end of the outer uncoupling lever member 3 its inner arm 8 presses upwardly on the under side of the inner member 4,

thereby causing the outer end of the latter" lever member 4 around this point as a pivotal center. This rotary movement ofthe inner member 4 causes its shoulder 19 to move into overlapping relation with the upper end of the locking lug 13 of the bracket. If the knuckle of the coupler is not free to rotate to open position when the uncoupling device is actuated, the release of the downward pressure upon the outer member 3 permits the parts to assume the lock-set relation illustrated in Fig.3, the shoulder 19 of the member 4 resting upon the upper end of the locking lug 13 so as to support the outer end of the inner lever member in elevated position. If the knuckle is free to rotate outwardly when the outer uncoupling member 3 is actuated, thelatter causes the inner lever member 4 to perform the extended uncoupling rotation necessary to move the coupler a sufficient distance to effect the knuckle opening operation of the coupler mechanism. When, by the subsequent; op-

eration of the coupler, the locking mechanism thereof reassumes normal or locked position, the inner lever member 4 rotates so that the shoulder119 thereofis disengaged from the lug 13,thus'permitting the parts of the mechanism to reassumenormal locked der 19 which would allow the outer end of the inner lever member 4 to hang on the fulcrum or pivot casting should it be acc1- dentally jarred upward. The outer end of the inner lever member 4 is always free to drop back to locked relation except when it is in lock set position.

I claim 1. An uncoupling device for actuating the locking mechanism of a car coupler, said device involving an uncoupling lever comprising an operating arm and an operated arm, means for pivotally mounting the op-- crating arm on the car body, said operating arm being adapted to engage the operated arm to effect an uncoupling movement of the latter, and means fixed with respect to the pivotal axis of the operating lever adapted to engage said operated lever to prevent the latter from accidentally moving to uncoupling position, said operating lever upon an uncoupling rotation being adapted to shift said operated lever so as to release it from the control of said last named means.

2. An uncoupling device for actuating the locking mechanism of a car coupler, said device involving an uncoupling lever having an outer rotatable member and an inner rotatable member, said members being relatively movable and rotatable on spaced piv-- otal axes, and means mounted on the car body forming spaced pivotal supports for said rotatable members, said inner member being provided at its outer end with a recess having a downwardly facing shoulder, said means having rigidly associated therewith an upwardly projecting lug adapted to enter said recess above said shoulder and thereby lock said inner member against accidental rotation to uncoupling position, and said outer member upon an uncoupling movement being adapted to engage said inner member to move the latter so as first to release it fromithe control of said lug and thereafter to rotate it to uncoupling position.

3. An uncoupling device for actuating the locking mechanism of a car coupler, said device involving an uncoupling lever comprising an outer rotatable member and an inner rotatable member, said outer member being pivotally mounted on the car body and said inner member being movable independently of said outer member and being adaptcd to be actuated by the latter, and a bracket carried by the car providing pivotal bearings for said lever members and a locking lug for preventing said inner member from accidentally moving to uncoupling position, said inner member being provided adjacent said bracket with a recess for receiving said lug and pivotal bearings, said recess being shouldered to permit the outer end of said inner lever member to be supported on said lug, and a wall of said recess adjacent said shoulder being inclined downwardly toward the pivotal bearing for said inner lever member, whereby said shoulder is prevented from moving into overlapped relation with said lug when the outer end of said inner member accidentally moves upward While its inner end is substantially in coupled position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

\VILLIAM KELSO. 

